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Does multi personality disorder exist


Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) | Thriveworks

Dissociative identity disorder is perhaps the best-known, but most misunderstood dissociative disorder. It’s marked by the presentation of alternate personalities, commonly referred to as “alters.” These alters often differ drastically from one another and can change the affected person’s voice, body language, speech patterns, handwriting, and more. 

Dissociative identity disorder can be highly disconcerting to those who have it and others, especially when a person begins “switching,” or moving between their alters. This transfer can create memory gaps, confusion, and fear. Dissociative identity disorder often develops after traumatic experiences, usually in childhood.

What Is Dissociative Identity Disorder?

It may sound like a personality disorder, but dissociative identity disorder doesn’t belong to this subgroup of mental health conditions. Instead, it’s one of several dissociative disorders, in which the individual has two or more distinct identities or personalities. Those who suffer from this disorder experience significant distress, impairment in important areas of functioning, and memory loss.

Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by identity fragmentation, not an army of separate personalities or characters. This is precisely why the name was changed from multiple personality disorder 23 years ago to better reflect the grounds for the disorder and what the sufferers experience. 

The following criteria, as set forth by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), must be met in order for a diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder to be made:

  • The individual must experience two or more distinct personality states, each of which has a specific way of perceiving and thinking about the environment and self.
  • This identity disturbance includes changes in behavior, consciousness, cognition, memory, and motor function.
  • There are regular gaps in memories of personal history, for both the far-gone and recent past. These include memories about specific people, places, and events.
  • The above symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in everyday functioning.

What Are the 3 Main Symptoms of Dissociative Disorders?

The three most common symptoms of dissociative disorders are: 

  • Memory loss (amnesia)
  • A sense of feeling detached from one’s self, others, and the environment 
  • The existence of at least one or more alters

Someone who is coping with a dissociative disorder may also have difficulty describing or feeling attached to one’s personality, and hold distorted views of reality which are not always evident to the sufferer. People with dissociative disorders may not always realize what they are experiencing, which can be frustrating and confusing for them as well as those around them. 

Even more daunting is that many people with dissociative identity disorder may feel as though their alters are in control, and not themselves. These symptoms are treatable with the assistance of a mental health professional, but first, the provider will need to identify which dissociative disorder the client is suffering from. 

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What Are the 4 Types of Dissociative Disorders?

The DSM-5 currently recognizes four types of dissociative disorders: dissociative identity disorder, dissociative amnesia disorder, depersonalization/derealization disorder, and other specific dissociative disorder — the foremost of which is dissociative identity disorder. Here’s more information about the other three: 

Dissociative amnesia disorder: An distinct inability to recall important life events, highlights, or personal stories, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is inconsistent with ordinary forgetting. The necessary criteria are as follows: 

  • The amnesia symptoms must cause clinically significant emotional distress or impairment in the client’s social life, work, or other important areas.
  • The disturbances are not attributable to a substance such as alcohol or other drugs, or a neurological or other medical condition such as a traumatic brain injury.
  • The disturbance is not better explained by another mental health condition disorder.

Depersonalization/derealization disorder is the persistent experience of depersonalization and derealization episodes. The difference between these experiences is explained below. Depersonalization is the feeling of being an outside observer in regard to one’s thoughts, feelings, sensations, body, or actions. 

Derealization causes an individual to experience other people, objects, the environment, and certain situations as unreal, dreamlike, foggy, lifeless, or visually distorted.  

A person meets the criteria for depersonalization/derealization disorder only if:

  • During the depersonalization or derealization experiences, reality testing remains intact. (Reality testing is the ability to recognize unrealistic thoughts from rational ones.)
  • The symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment to the client’s social life, work performance, and interpersonal relationships. 
  • The disturbance is not attributable to the effects of a pharmacological substance such as a recreational drug or prescribed medication, or another medical condition such as seizures or serotonin syndrome.
  • The disturbance is not better explained by another mental health condition disorder, like schizophrenia, panic disorder, or PTSD. 

Other specified dissociative disorder may be diagnosed when dissociative symptoms are causing clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning, but do not meet the full criteria for any of the disorders listed above. To be diagnosed with this disorder, the client must be experiencing:

  • Recurrent dissociative symptoms such as identity disturbances, alterations of identity, or episodes of possession by an alter, with no reported dissociative amnesia.
  • Identity disturbances due to extreme circumstances, such as brainwashing, indoctrination, torture, political imprisonment, cult membership, or forced entry into a terror organization.
  • Short-term, acute dissociative reactions to a stressful event or events. This sort of reaction typically lasts less than 1 month, and sometimes for only a few hours or days after the event.

What Are Some Examples of Dissociative Identity Disorder?

It’s important to remember that mental health conditions can affect each individual differently. But with this in mind, there are certain common experiences or behaviors among those who have dissociative identity disorder. For example, someone may: 

  • Take part in a conversation that they don’t remember
  • Act impulsively
  • Speak in a different language or with an unusual tone of voice
  • Display uncharacteristic body language 

And in some cases, it’s even possible to observe someone “switching” between personalities. This may entail involuntary muscle spasms; rapid eye movements; and changes in mood, handwriting, or dress. 

What Triggers Dissociative Identity Disorder?

It’s not always clear why some people develop the disorder, but oftentimes, the individuals report having been physically or sexually abused: 90% with the disorder in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, report having been abused as a child. 

But beyond post-adolescence and childhood, some of the common triggers of dissociative identity disorder in adults include: 

  • Chronic stress and anxiety
  • Alcohol and drug use
  • Sleep deprivation
  • Long-term sexual abuse or exposure to physical violence
  • Combat, whether in a domestic self-defense situation or military operation
  • Prison conditions, especially solitary confinement

When the symptoms of dissociative identity disorder are triggered, the temporary escape from reality doesn’t solve the root of the issues — the triggers of dissociative experiences must be addressed and resolved.  

Can Emotional Neglect Cause Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Research shows that emotional neglect plays perhaps the largest role in the development of dissociative states. However, severe and particularly prolonged trauma can have a lasting impact on psychological well-being at any age. The extreme stress of some situations can cause someone’s personality to splinter, creating alters in an attempt to escape the reality of a situation or event. 

It’s also important to remember that emotional neglect can take on many forms, and factors such as sexual and physical abuse are also contributors to dissociative disorders in many cases. 

Can You Have Dissociative Identity Disorder and Not Know?

It’s definitely possible. Often, people with mental health conditions may experience symptoms for years before receiving a diagnosis from a clinician. Typically, individuals eventually encounter some form of dysfunction in their life that prompts them to receive the expertise and professional evaluation skills of a therapist or psychiatric care provider.   

How Is Dissociation Treated? What Sorts of Treatments Are Most Effective Within the DID Population?

Dissociative disorders need to be diagnosed before treatment can begin. This process starts with a clinician assessing and evaluating the client’s presenting symptoms and ruling out other conditions that could be causing dissociation and depersonalization experiences. 

Evaluation for dissociative identity disorder and other dissociative disorders may include:

  • A preliminary physical exam: Your provider may refer you to a doctor who can first test for head injuries, brain diseases, or other health issues which could cause symptoms such as memory loss, hallucinations, or other psychological symptoms. 
  • A psychiatric evaluation: Your provider will ask questions about your thoughts, feelings, and behavior in the past as well as the present. If you allow them to, they may also gather information from your family members or partners in order to get a better idea of your situation and psychological history. They will likely compare your symptoms to the DSM-5 criteria, as listed above.

The two most successful forms of treatment for dissociative disorders are talk therapy and psychiatric prescription medications.

Talk therapy is the primary treatment for dissociative disorders, and helps you begin talking about your disorder and related issues with a mental health professional. A therapist with advanced experience, or who specializes in helping people work through trauma is a great option. 

Some of the most popular forms of talk therapy are: 

  • Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) 
  • Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) 
  • Psychodynamic therapy 
  • Humanistic therapy

Talk therapy can offer you new understanding of your condition, and teach you more effective ways to cope and move forward with your life. These conversations between you and your therapist are confidential, empathetic, and will move at your own pace.  

Even though there aren’t any medications that specifically treat dissociative disorders, a psychiatric provider may prescribe to you one or more: 

  • Antidepressants
  • Anti-anxiety medications
  • Antipsychotic drugs 

These medications could help you control the mental health symptoms associated with your dissociative disorder.

Adults are encouraged to reach out for support and professional guidance if it seems that they’re struggling with the effects of dissociative identity disorder or another dissociative disorder. Parents, caregivers, and teachers should also watch for the signs of dissociative disorders in young children. If treatment happens soon enough after episodes of abuse or trauma, this could prevent a child’s dissociative symptoms from worsening.

Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder): Signs, Symptoms, Treatment

Written by WebMD Editorial Contributors

In this Article

  • What Is Dissociative Identity Disorder?
  • Who Is At Risk for DID?
  • How to Recognize Dissociative Identity Disorder and Its Associated Mental Disorders
  • How Is Dissociative Identity Disorder Diagnosed?
  • What Other Psychiatric Illnesses Might Occur With DID?
  • Are There Famous People With Dissociative Identity Disorder?
  • What's the Treatment Plan for Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Dissociative identity disorder (previously known as multiple personality disorder) is thought to be a complex psychological condition that is likely caused by many factors, including severe trauma during early childhood (usually extreme, repetitive physical, sexual, or emotional abuse).

What Is Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Dissociative identity disorder is a severe form of dissociation, a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. Dissociative identity disorder is thought to stem from a combination of factors that may include trauma experienced by the person with the disorder. The dissociative aspect is thought to be a coping mechanism -- the person literally shuts off or dissociates themselves from a situation or experience that's too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate with their conscious self.

Who Is At Risk for DID?

Research indicates that the cause of DID is likely a psychological response to interpersonal and environmental stresses, particularly during early childhood years when emotional neglect or abuse may interfere with personality development. As many as 99% of individuals who develop dissociative disorders have recognized personal histories of recurring, overpowering, and often life-threatening disturbances or traumas at a sensitive developmental stage of childhood (usually before age 6).

Dissociation may also happen when there has been persistent neglect or emotional abuse, even when there has been no overt physical or sexual abuse. Findings show that in families where parents are frightening and unpredictable, the children may become dissociative. Studies indicate DID affects about 1% of the population.

How to Recognize Dissociative Identity Disorder and Its Associated Mental Disorders

Dissociative identity disorder is characterized by the presence of two or more distinct or split identities or personality states that continually have power over the person's behavior. With dissociative identity disorder, there's also an inability to recall key personal information that is too far-reaching to be explained as mere forgetfulness. With dissociative identity disorder, there are also highly distinct memory variations, which may fluctuate.

Although not everyone experiences DID the same way, for some the "alters" or different identities have their own age, sex, or race. Each has their own postures, gestures, and distinct way of talking. Sometimes the alters are imaginary people; sometimes they are animals. As each personality reveals itself and controls the individuals' behavior and thoughts, it's called "switching." Switching can take seconds to minutes to days. Some seek treatment with hypnosis where the person's different "alters" or identities may be very responsive to the therapist's requests.

Other symptoms of dissociative identity disorder may include headache, amnesia, time loss, trances, and "out of body experiences." Some people with dissociative disorders have a tendency toward self-persecution, self-sabotage, and even violence (both self-inflicted and outwardly directed). As an example, someone with dissociative identity disorder may find themselves doing things they wouldn't normally do, such as speeding, reckless driving, or stealing money from their employer or friend, yet they feel they are being compelled to do it. Some describe this feeling as being a passenger in their body rather than the driver. In other words, they truly believe they have no choice.

There are several main ways in which the psychological processes of dissociative identity disorder change the way a person experiences living, including the following:

  • Depersonalization. This is a sense of being detached from one's body and is often referred to as an "out-of-body" experience.
  • Derealization. This is the feeling that the world is not real or looking foggy or far away.
  • Amnesia. This is the failure to recall significant personal information that is so extensive it cannot be blamed on ordinary forgetfulness. There can also be micro-amnesias where the discussion engaged in is not remembered, or the content of a meaningful conversation is forgotten from one second to the next.
  • Identity confusion or identity alteration. Both of these involve a sense of confusion about who a person is. An example of identity confusion is when a person has trouble defining the things that interest them in life, or their political or religious or social viewpoints, or their sexual orientation, or their professional ambitions. In addition to these apparent alterations, the person may experience distortions in time, place, and situation.

It is now acknowledged that these dissociated states are not fully mature personalities, but rather they represent a disjointed sense of identity. With the amnesia typically associated with dissociative identity disorder, different identity states remember different aspects of autobiographical information. There is usually a "host" personality within the individual, who identifies with the person's real name. Ironically, the host personality is usually unaware of the presence of other personalities.

How Is Dissociative Identity Disorder Diagnosed?

Making the diagnosis of dissociative identity disorder takes time. It's estimated that individuals with dissociative disorders have spent seven years in the mental health system prior to accurate diagnosis. This is common, because the list of symptoms that cause a person with a dissociative disorder to seek treatment is very similar to those of many other psychiatric diagnoses. In fact, many people who have dissociative disorders also have coexisting diagnoses of borderline or other personality disorders, depression, and anxiety.

The DSM-5 provides the following criteria to diagnose dissociative identity disorder:

  1. Two or more distinct identities or personality states are present, each with its own relatively enduring pattern of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and self.
  2. Amnesia must occur, defined as gaps in the recall of everyday events, important personal information, and/or traumatic events.
  3. The person must be distressed by the disorder or have trouble functioning in one or more major life areas because of the disorder.
  4. The disturbance is not part of normal cultural or religious practices.
  5. The symptoms cannot be due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (such as blackouts or chaotic behavior during alcohol intoxication) or a general medical condition (such as complex partial seizures).

The distinct personalities may serve diverse roles in helping the individual cope with life's dilemmas. For instance, there's an average of two to four personalities present when the patient is initially diagnosed. Then there's an average of 13 to 15 personalities that can become known over the course of treatment. Environmental triggers or life events cause a sudden shift from one alter or personality to another.

What Other Psychiatric Illnesses Might Occur With DID?

Along with the dissociation and multiple or split personalities, people with dissociative disorders may experience a number of other psychiatric problems, including symptoms:

  • Depression
  • Mood swings
  • Suicidal tendencies
  • Sleep disorders (insomnia, night terrors, and sleep walking)
  • Anxiety, panic attacks, and phobias (flashbacks, reactions to stimuli or "triggers")
  • Alcohol and drug abuse
  • Compulsions and rituals
  • Psychotic-like symptoms (including auditory and visual hallucinations)
  • Eating disorders

Are There Famous People With Dissociative Identity Disorder?

Famous people with dissociative identity disorder include comedienne Roseanne Barr, Adam Duritz, and retired NFL star Herschel Walker.

Walker wrote a book about his struggles with DID, along with his suicide attempts, explaining he had a feeling of disconnect from childhood to the professional leagues. To cope, he developed a tough personality that didn't feel loneliness, one that was fearless and wanted to act out the anger he always suppressed. These "alters" could withstand the abuse he felt; other alters came to help him rise to national fame. Treatment helped Walker realize that these alternate personalities are part of dissociative identity disorder, which he was diagnosed with in adulthood.

What's the Treatment Plan for Dissociative Identity Disorder?

There are currently no formal, evidence-based guldelines to treat DID. Many treatments are based on case reports or are even controversial.  

While there's also no "cure" for dissociative identity disorder, long-term treatment can be helpful, if the patient stays committed. Effective treatment includes:

  • Psychotherapy: Also called talk therapy, the therapy is designed to work through whatever triggered and triggers the DID. The goal is to help “fuse” the separate personality traits into one consolidated personality that can control the triggers. This therapy often includes family members in the therapy.
  • Hypnotherapy. Used in conjunction with psychotherapy, clinical hypnosis can be used to help access repressed memories, control some of the problematic behaviors which accompany DID as well as help integrate the personalities into one.
  • Adjunctive therapy. Therapies such as art or movement therapy have been shown to help people connect with parts of their mind that they have shut off to cope with trauma.

There are no established medication treatments for dissociative identity disorder, making psychologically-based approaches the mainstay of therapy. Treatment of co-occurring disorders, such as depression or substance use disorders, is fundamental to overall improvement. Because the symptoms of dissociative disorders often occur with other disorders, such as anxiety and depression, medicines to treat those co-occurring problems, if present, are sometimes used in addition to psychotherapy.

 

how multiple personality arises - T&P

Multiple personality disorder is a bright but rather controversial disease that still causes heated discussions among doctors and scientists. Someone doubts whether it exists at all, someone doubts whether this state should be considered a deviation from the norm. "Theories and Practices" remembered how the research of this psychiatric phenomenon began and why one should not rush to evaluate it.

Dissociative identity disorder is a condition in which, in addition to the main personality, the patient has at least one (and often more) subpersonality that periodically “takes control” of the body and acts in accordance with their own ideas about life. These ideas can be very different from the habits and philosophy of the real owner of the body.

Despite the fact that some experts consider this disease iatrogenic - that is, provoked by the careless words of doctors or watching a "scientific" TV show - there is a number of evidence that indicates the opposite. One of the most impressive is the history of the disease. Cases of dissociative disorder were also recorded when neither psychotherapists nor TV shows were in sight. However, psychiatry itself did not exist.

One of the first described cases of dissociative personality disorder occurred at the end of the 18th century in the German city of Stuttgart. A revolution had just taken place in France, and the aristocrats, saving their lives, fled from their native country to neighboring states, including Germany. A young resident of Stuttgart took their misfortunes too close to her heart. She suddenly had a second personality - a Frenchwoman. She not only spoke her “native language” perfectly, but also coped noticeably worse with German, she had a noticeable accent. The Frenchwoman who appeared was of aristocratic blood, and her manners and habits fully corresponded to her status. It is noteworthy that the German girl did not remember what the "Frenchwoman" was doing, and she did not know anything about the legal mistress of the body.

The young German woman was not the only person with this disease in her century, but nevertheless her illness turned out to be extremely rare - in total, 76 cases of dissociative identity disorder were documented up to the middle of the 20th century. Interestingly, in recent decades, much more of them have been described - today more than 40 thousand people with this diagnosis live in the world. However, this does not mean the beginning of an "epidemic" - psychiatry, with all its arsenal of medicines, appeared only in the middle of the last century, and, accordingly, control over the incidence of such disorders began not much earlier.

To date, quite a lot of books and articles have been written about multiple personality disorder, both popular and academic. The most interesting thing about it is, perhaps, the moment of the onset of the disease in childhood. No one is born a “ready-made”, whole person. Growing up, the child experiences many emotions and experiences that are loosely related to each other. Over time, they integrate together, forming one common identity. However, the development of a child does not always go smoothly. In cases where children at an early age (about 2 years) are separated from their mother when they experience abuse or some traumatic experience, childhood experiences can remain segregated and lead to the formation of two or more personalities. Almost all patients with multiple personality disorder (more precisely, 97-98%) mention a difficult childhood with traumatic experiences.

Dissociative identity disorder often begins in childhood, but may appear later. Over the years, patients, as a rule, have an increasing number of "tenants". Since individuals, as a rule, perform certain functions, help to cope with certain life situations, with the emergence of new tasks and problems, new residents appear who are able to cope with them. Each of the subpersonalities has its own worldview, its own habits, gestures and facial expressions, even age and intelligence. At certain moments, by the good will of the "owner" or against it, some of the personalities gain control over the body, and everything done by it during use, as a rule, is not controlled and is not remembered by the patient himself.

A key issue in the lives of patients with dissociative personality disorder is the relationship that has developed in the “team”. Sub-personalities may or may not be aware of each other's existence, be aggressive or silently roam museums at their own time, negotiate rental schedules with the owner of the body, or regularly stage power grabs. The treatment strategy also depends on these factors - it is based on psychotherapy, and although its ultimate goal is to come to the integration of personalities into one, an important task in the process is the "neutralization" of dangerous tenants, and the organization of harmonious relations between all subpersonalities.

More than one person in one body is unfortunately not the only symptom of dissociative identity disorder. It is often accompanied by depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, sleep and eating disorders, even hallucinations. Dissociative disorder is sometimes confused with schizophrenia, but these diseases can be distinguished - in schizophrenia, as a rule, the symptoms are perceived as enemy actions of aliens, the KGB or members of the Masonic lodge, which is not the case with dissociative disorder. In addition, splitting identities in schizophrenia is a simple separation of mental functions due to a general breakdown of personality, but with DID (Dissociative identity disorder - another name for multiple personality disorder), everything is much more complicated. Functions are not only separated, but also become full-fledged individuals: each of them has their own style of clothing, supports their football team and has their own ideas about how to spend time.

Treatment of patients diagnosed with multiple personality disorder is usually long, difficult and emotionally costly. However, not everyone agrees that it should be treated at all. The American psychologist James Hillman, the founder of the school of archetypal psychology, is convinced that the position that multiple personality syndrome is considered a disorder is nothing more than a stereotype that can and should be fought, advocating the right of people with this diagnosis to be considered no less normal than others. The goal of therapy, according to Hillman, is only the creation of harmonious relations of all subpersonalities. Many patients also support his position. The ideologist of such a movement was Truddy Chase, who refused to integrate subpersonalities into a single whole and instead established mutually beneficial cooperation with them. She wrote about her experience in the book When the Rabbit Howls. Today, Truddy is far from the only one who refuses to integrate. No wonder: killing good friends and useful assistants with your own hands, albeit symbolically, is still not easy.

Flora Schreiber

A serious and very detailed book written by a doctor about her own patient who is trying to get along with her sixteen subpersonalities.

Daniel Keyes

Incredible biography of the most famous criminal diagnosed with multiple personality disorder. 24 personalities coexisted in the body of Billy Milligan, including a Yugoslav communist, a lesbian poet, and a three-year-old girl. By the way, the book has a sequel - Milligan's War.

Truddy Chase

The most interesting thing about this very positive biographical book is that it was written by Truddy Chase in collaboration with subpersonalities, and by reading it you can see from the inside the teamwork of all Truddy's alters.

Robert Oxnam

Oxnam, president of the Asia Society and well-known public figure, talks in his book about how he tried to disguise his illness with alcoholism, struggled with memory lapses and worked in a rehabilitation center to integrate his 11 sub-personalities.

Elena Foer

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#Psychiatry

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    • Disability of identity: Having experienced the violence of the Father, dedicated to the father of the father.

    Mao
  • BBC Sydney

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Photo copyright JENI HAYNES/ NINE NETWORK

Photo caption

Jenny Haynes' six personal identities were allowed to testify in court against her father

One female witness was heard in court that day. But six people spoke through her lips, ready to talk about the bullying she experienced.

"I went into the courtroom, took my seat, took the oath, and then a few hours later I returned to my body and left there," Janie Haynes recalled this day in an interview with the BBC.

When Janie was a child, she was constantly raped by her father, Richard Haynes. Australian police call what happened to her one of the worst cases of child abuse in the history of the country.

To cope with the psychological trauma, her mind resorted to an amazing tactic - it invented new personal identities for her to distance herself from the pain she was experiencing. The bullying was so brutal and continuous that Janie says she had to invent 2,500 different personalities to survive.

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Court hearings took place in March, in which Jeni testified against her father on behalf of several of these individuals. Among them was a four-year-old girl named Symphony.

This was the first time in Australia, and probably the world, that a victim diagnosed with dissociative identity disorder testified on behalf of their multiple personalities and managed to secure a conviction.

"We weren't afraid. We waited so long to tell everyone exactly what he did to us, and now he couldn't silence us," she said.

On September 6, a court in Sydney sentenced 74-year-old Richard Haynes to 45 years in prison.

Warning: The text contains a description of child abuse and abuse

"Even in my head I didn't feel safe"

The Haynes family moved to Australia from London in 1974. Janie was four years old, but her father had already begun to mock her. In Sydney, his actions became completely sadistic and were repeated almost daily.

Image copyright JENI HAYNES

Image caption

Jeni's multiple selves became her way of hiding from violence

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"My father's bullying was calculated and planned. It was deliberate and he enjoyed it every minute," Janie told the court. As a minor victim, she had the right to remain anonymous, but chose to waive it in order to be able to reveal her father's name.

"He heard me begging him to stop, he heard me crying, he saw the pain and terror he caused me, he saw the blood and the physical damage he inflicted. And the next day he consciously did it again." , - she said.

Haynes told his daughter that he could read her mind, she said. He threatened to kill her mother, brother, and sister even if she even considered torturing her, let alone tell them about it.

"My inner world was taken over by my father. Even in my head I didn't feel safe. I lost the ability to comprehend what was happening to me and draw my own conclusions," Janie said.

To hide her feelings, she expressed her thoughts through the lyrics:

"He ain't heavy/he's my brother" (He's not a burden, he's my brother) - when she was worried about her brother and sister.

"Do you really want to hurt me/ Do you really want to make me cry" when thinking about her experience.

Her father limited her contact at school to minimize her contact with adults. Janie learned to be quiet and inconspicuous because if she was "noticed", such as when the swimming coach told her father that the girl needed to develop her talent, her father punished her.

Photo copyright, Jeni Haynes

Photo caption,

Richard Haynes and his three children, Jeni is on the right

Jeni did not receive medical treatment for injuries from beatings and rape. As a result, she developed serious chronic diseases.

Janie is now 49 years old. Her eyesight is irreparably damaged, her jaw, intestines, anus and coccyx are damaged. She had to undergo several major surgeries, including a colostomy in 2011.

The violence in Janie's life continued until the age of 11, when her family returned to Britain. Shortly thereafter, at 1984, her parents divorced. She thinks that no one, not even her mother, knew what she had been through.

"Actually he bullied Symphony"

Modern Australian experts call Janie's condition Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). They say it has a lot to do with the horrendous abuse she experienced as a child—experienced at home, in a place that was supposed to be safe.

"DID is really a survival strategy," child psychologist Pam Stavropoulos, an expert on childhood trauma, told the BBC.

Image copyright JENI HAYNES

Image caption

For most of her childhood Jeni told herself she was Symphony

experiences of abuse and psychological trauma," she said.

The younger the traumatized child and the worse the treatment, the more likely it is that he will resort to dissociation to cope, resulting in a split personality.

Janie said that the first personal identity that appeared in her was Symphony, a four-year-old girl who exists in her own temporary reality.

"She suffered every minute when my dad abused me. When he abused me - his daughter Janie - he actually abused Symphony," Janie said.

As the years passed, Symphony herself began to invent new identities to cope with the violence she experienced. Each of the hundreds and hundreds of personalities had a role to play in coping with the elements of violence, whether it was a particularly terrifying episode or images or smells that evoked traumatic memories.

"The alter personality came out from behind the Symphony and became a distraction. My alter personalities served as a protection for me from my father," Janie said.

As we were talking about this, about half an hour after the interview began, Symphony appeared. Janie warned that this could happen. The fact that she is about to switch can be guessed by the fact that it becomes more difficult for her to formulate an answer.

"Hi, my name is Symphony. Janie is having a problem. Let me tell you everything if you don't mind," she says quickly.

Symphony has a higher voice, more lively intonation. She speaks like a little girl, barely catching her breath between words. We talked for 15 minutes. She remembers in great detail the events associated with the "evil dad" that took place decades ago. It's impressive.

"That's what I did. I took everything that I consider valuable in myself, everything that is important and pleasant for me, and hid it from my father. Therefore, when he mocked me, he mocked not a thinking human being", Symphony said.

Janie's personalities that helped her survive

Photo caption,

Janie and some of her essences

  • Muscles is a Billy Idol-style teenager. He is tall and wears clothes that flaunt his strong arms. He is calm and caring.
  • Volcano - very tall and strong, dressed in black leather from head to toe. Hair is dyed straw.
  • Ricky is only eight years old, but he wears an old gray suit. He has short hair and bright red hair.
  • Judas is short with red hair. He wears gray trousers from his school uniform and a bright green sweater. Always looks like he's about to say something.
  • Linda/Maggot is tall and slender, wearing a 1950s skirt with pink poodle appliqués. Her hair is collected in an elegant bun, and her eyebrows are in a house.
  • Rick wears huge glasses - the same ones worn by Richard Haynes. They cover his face.

In March, Janie was allowed to testify in court on behalf of Symphony and five other personalities, each of whom could talk about different aspects of the abuse experienced. Only the judge was present at the hearing, because the lawyers felt that the testimony would be too traumatic for the jury.

Haynes was initially charged with 367 charges, including multiple counts of rape, sodomy, lewd acts and carnal depravity of a child under 10 years of age. Janie, in her various personalities, was able to testify at length in court on each episode. Her multiple selves helped her retain memories that would otherwise have been lost due to trauma.

Prosecutors also called in DID's expert psychologists to explain Janie's condition and assess the credibility of her testimony.

"My memories as someone with MRI are as intact today as they were the day they were formed," Janie told the BBC. After that, she briefly spoke about herself in the plural: "Our memories are just frozen in time. If I need them, I'll just go and get them."

Symphony intended to "detail" the details of the crimes committed during her seven years in Australia. Muscled, burly 18-year-old boy, could testify to the physical abuse, and the elegant young woman Linda had to tell how the abuse affected Janie's performance in school and her ability to connect with people.

Photo copyright JENI HAYNES

Photo caption

The Haynes family home in Greenacre, Sydney west

Symphony hoped to "use her testimony to grow up," Janie explains. got scared and gave up, couldn't handle it."

After more than two hours of Symphony's testimony on the second day of the hearing, Janie's father changed his testimony and pleaded guilty on 25 counts - the worst, according to Janie.

Dozens more were counted towards his sentencing.

"DID saved my life"

"This case is a milestone, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that multiple identities of a person with DID have been accepted by the court system and ultimately led to the conviction of the perpetrator," explains Dr. Kathy Keselman is president of the Blue Knot Foundation, an Australian organization that helps survivors of childhood trauma.

Image copyright JENI HAYNES

Image caption,

Richard Haynes pleaded guilty to more than two dozen acts of child sexual abuse

Janie first reported the abuse in 2009. The police investigation leading to the sentencing and imprisonment of Richard Haynes lasted 10 years.

In 2017, he was extradited to Australia from Darlington in the North East of England, where he was serving a seven-year sentence for another crime. Before that, he lived with various relatives of Janie, whom he told that his daughter was lying and manipulating people.

Upon learning of Janie's abuse, her mother, who divorced Haynes in 1984, became active in helping her get justice.

But for decades, Janie's attempts to get help with her injuries have met with reluctance from specialists. She says counselors and therapists turned her down because her story made them distrustful or felt so traumatic that they couldn't deal with it themselves.

Dissociative Identity Disorder

  • Refusal to communicate - detachment from oneself or the world - is considered a normal reaction to trauma.
  • DID can be triggered by experience if a person (especially in childhood) has experienced trauma for a long time.
  • Lack of adult support, or the presence of an adult who says the injury was not real, may contribute to the development of DID.
  • A person with DID may feel that there are multiple selves within them that think, act, or speak differently and may even have conflicting memories and experiences.
  • There is no specific medical treatment for DID - specialists mainly use talking therapy to help patients.

Despite the fact that today this diagnosis is recognized and its existence is evidence-based, DID usually raises doubts among the layman and even some doctors.

"The nature of this condition is such that it causes distrust and discomfort because of the causes of its occurrence. Partly because people find it difficult to believe that children can be subjected to such abuse," says Dr. Stavropoulos. "That's why Janie's case is so important - because this case provides a wider awareness of this very complex, but not uncommon condition, which has not yet been fully accepted.

Janie says her DID saved her life and soul. At the same time, her condition and her trauma led to serious life difficulties.

Photo copyright, JENI HAYNES

Photo caption,

Some of Jeni's personalities are very intelligent and experienced adults

Jeni has devoted her entire life to her studies, earning her Masters and Doctorate in Law and Philosophy. But she couldn't work full time. She now lives with her mother, and both of them depend on their social pensions.

In her statement of harm, Janie notes that she and her personalities "live in fear, constantly on guard. We must hide our multiplicity and strive for consistency in behavior, relationships, conversations and beliefs, which is often impossible. Very difficult to manage opinions and views, having 2,500 voices inside."

"I shouldn't have lived like this," she says. "Make no mistake, it was my father who caused me to have DID."

On September 6, when my father was sentenced to 45 years in prison, Janie was sitting a few meters from him.

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